As the title says, I don't understand the Broadway version of King Of New York.
Okay so you know how Race in the Broadway version sings "a pair of new shews with matching laces" and Romeo sings "a permanent box at the Sheepshead Races"? You do? Good.
And you know how Mush in the movie sings "a pair of new shews with matching laces" and Race sings "a permanent box at the Sheepshead Races"? You do? Awesome!
I feel like the movie version of King Of New York makes more sense than the Broadway version of King Of New York. The movie version's lyrics are true to the characters of the newsies. Like Race is a gambler and it makes sense for him to want to go to the Sheepshead Races.
It doesn't make sense in the Broadway version of King Of New York that Romeo would want to go to Sheepshead Races at all. He's known for being a flirt, not a gambler.
Why would Alan Menken and the other lyricist of Newsies change the lyrics for the songs that already made sense? I understand adding a few new songs to adapt the movie to Broadway, but I don't understand why change things that were already perfect the way they were.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
